August 2022

Fire Department Updates

Chief’s Message

And just like that, the summer is gone. The Fire Department would like to thank the community for their support and participation in our many summer events we had this summer. We were able to attend so many different block parties, birthday parties, and other events. These opportunities to connect with all of you in a relaxed and non-emergent setting is vital to continue to build trust with our community and let you get to know us and what we are about. I would also like to thank the community for the huge success of Friday’s with Firefighters this summer. We had over 1,200 people attend our three events this summer; our last one was on August 19^th. Inviting you up to the station to spray water, sit in the trucks, and talk with the firefighters is such a rewarding opportunity. We are looking forward to hosting them again next summer.

I want to give a quick shout out for our annual open house on Saturday, October 8^th from 10AM-Noon. We will have station tours, hand out fire prevention and safety resources, fire and EMS equipment and incident demonstrations, as well as the opportunity to look at and sit in the fire trucks.

I have made mention of advanced life support (ALS) first response a few times in previous monthly reports. The department officially transitioned over to providing this enhanced level of EMS care on Wednesday, August 24^th. This has been a two-year long process of evaluating the need in the community and capacity of the fire department, as well as training, equipment and medication procurement, and changing portions of our day-to-day response model. The firefighters are excited to be able to provide additional medications, skills, and interventions in an effort to save lives and improve the care of any and all emergency medical incidents we respond to.

August Community Outreach

Fridays with Firefighters

Our final Fridays with Firefighters of 2022 was a success, thanks to all of you and your support! We even had a couple special guests from Dunkin' Donuts and the Ramsey County Library. It was great to get back into the swing of things this summer and really get to interact with our community. We're excited to host more events next year!

Fire Explorers

Our Fire Explorers ended the summer before heading back to school with some exciting training opportunities. The explorers trained on vehicle extrication, fire hydrant operations, SCBA, and fire hoses. These are some of the many skills these young adults are becoming proficient in. Additionally nearly all of our current explorers had the opportunity to ride along with our fire crews during the month of August to gain some valuable insight into emergency response. We will be doing a recruit drive for our explorer post this fall, so if you, or someone you know is interested please reach out! We’ve still got room in our post and invite interested youth to participate! Contact Emily at emily.nelson@cityofroseville.com for more information.

Night to Unite

We had another blockbuster year for Night to Unite with nearly 80 block parties this year! We were excited to see so many of our community members and even took the chance to “deputize” one of Roseville Police Department’s officers! Firefighter Reilly Keenan even had time for some face painting at one of the block part visits! It was so great to see everyone again this year and we are looking forward to next summer already!

August Notable Events

Cadet Program

In August we welcomed our newest team member through our Cadet Program. Ella DeVine is a recent Roseville Area High School graduate and will be working part time with current firefighters in the field, while attending courses to receive her EMS and fire certification. To learn more about Ella and the Cadet Program check out the recent news update here.

Power Outages

During an August rain storm power went out on Snelling Avenue, during this power outage two accidents occur one at County Road C and one at County Road C2. One accident required fire crews to utilize the “Jaws of Life” to extricate the patient from the vehicle. While injuries appeared to be non-critical in nature, the quick actions of our crews had the driver of the vehicle out of their damaged car and under the care of ambulance staff quickly.

Advanced Life Support (ALS) First Response

There has been quite a bit of publicity about RFD’s ALS First Response program that kicked off on August 24^th, this program did not get off the ground without hundreds of hours of effort from two critical workgroups within the Fire Department. First, the ALS First Response Workgroup (Chris Rice, Cody Thornberg, Dan Hong, Erin Stone, Griffith Kent, Josh Waylander, Kevin Priester, Mike Wallace, Neil Sjostrom, and Zach Rickman) was the main group of staff working to make sure every last detail was reviewed and prepared before we started our new program, without the time of these staff members this program would not have made it to the finish line. Another critical part of our ALS First Response program was a new Records Management System (RMS), this is the system that we utilize to keep track of everything we do when on an emergency incident, fire inspection, or during a fire investigation. The RMS Workgroup consisted of Ted Larson, Cody Thornberg, Erin Stone, Chris DuBay, Jeremy Schmitz, and Mike Wallace, and while not as visible as some of the skills we can now do as part of our ALS First Response, this program is core to the success of our department and data tracking. A special THANK YOU to these firefighters and all the time they have put into these programs that are focused as providing an increased level of care to our community!

August Training Events

Ladder Training

The beautiful August weather allowed our crews to conduct some very important training on our ladder apparatus. Our firefighters spend hundreds of hours a year training on these specialized pieces of equipment to make sure that we are ready to respond and serve our community and those around us whenever the need occurs.

Mass Casualty Training

August was Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) and Pediatric Emergency training month for all Roseville Firefighters. You may have seen firefighters on the stations front lawn providing patient care for some white cutout figures, while this might have looked strange, this training helps us prepare for dealing with a significant number of patients needing care during an emergency. We are grateful to Regions EMS for their high quality instruction that helps us to be prepared for any emergency.

Fire Extinguisher Training

Fire Inspector Sam Baker was able to visit the security team at Rosedale Center to review and teach some fire extinguisher safety. He was able to utilize the electronic extinguisher system that Ramsey County had purchased. This allows for real life training without the mess! If your company or organization is interested in similar training please reach out to Emily at 651-792-7309.

August Department Statistics

Fire and Hazardous Condition Calls – 52
Rescue & Emergency Medical Service Calls – 448
Service Calls – 42
Good Intent Calls – 65
False Alarm Calls – 26
Total Calls – 633

Mark your Calendars!

Hands Only CPR Classes
- Tuesday September 20th @ 6pm
- Sign up required here

Fire Prevention Open House 10am to noon!
- Saturday, October 8th

Health Fair (more info coming soon!)
- Monday, October 10th